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Sunday, April 28, 2013

"Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your
sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re
there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute— You’re already there waiting! Then I said to
myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the
light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness
and light, they’re all the same to you." Psalm 139: 7- 12

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Last week I turned 45. And my family forgot to take time to make me a cake. Or take me out to eat. Or get me a gift. My parents didn't call me. My husband spent more time on his break talking to friends than he did calling me. No handmade card from my youngest. No balloons. No streamers. I got more attention and gifts from my coworkers and friends and Facebook and the man who pumps my gas than I did my own family. I bought my own cake. We ate eggs and toast. It was weird. And to be honest, very disappointing. I am not a good martyr. I selflessly take time to make everyone else's birthday special, so I was very sad that my family did not do that for me.

But then God really convicted me for my selfishness. Big time. My pity party become a pit in my stomach. Instead of being thankful for all the blessings in my life, I spent the day feeling sorry for myself. I wasted hours of my precious life pouting. Acting like a four year old. I am not proud. So let me take a moment to publicly apologize. To my handsome husband: Thank you for being faithful, and for being contrite about forgetting, and for listening to me whine and complain and fuss that day, and for promising to make next year better!

To my gorgeous, healthy children: Thank you for the hugs, and the laughs, and for coming to spend time with me!

To my awesome friends and family who did take time to wish me a Happy Birthday, or give me a gift , or a phone call: Thank you! The gifts were an awesome surprise and your wishes made my day more special than you will ever know.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

As a homeschool mom, I sure do appreciate a good science
program. You know, one that has a ton of hands-on experiments with explanations for both younger
and older students alike. Well, we found
one in Supercharged Science. Started by
Aurora Lipper, a mechanical engineer who worked for NASA and is herself a stay-at-home mom to four kids, Supercharged Science is an
absolute joy to explore.

Through my job in advertising sales, I recently had the pleasure of speaking to the head
scientist from the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters. He told me something so interesting—he told
me that he did NOT recommend teaching formal science classes to children until
they reach high school. He said that all good scientists he ever knew or worked
with had no formal training until high school and college level courses. He said they DID learn the scientific method,
however, but in an organic way, with experiments and observations and note
taking. Why do I bring this up? Because
that is exactly the model into which the eScience Online Learning Program from Supercharged Science falls.

Supercharged Science's eScience Online Learning Program is set up into units (see below). Your full
subscription to Supercharged Science allows you immediate access to several
units and each month you will get access to 1 - 2 new units (60 – 80 experiments). We were chosen to review the K - 12 units, but there are two options (K - 8 and K -12) available for purchase.

Purchasing a Supercharged Science monthly membership
entitles you to the following (quoted from website):

Videos
of teaching real science to your kids--[these are taught by Aurora and Al Lipper]

Text-book type reading to support the material
in the videos

Hands-on activities and experiments, with videos that
guide your kids through them.

Homework exercises/quizzes so you can see what
your kids are really learning, and tips for how to keep track of your
progress in a real a science journal

A live science class in difference science areas every
few weeks where you can connect with founder Aurora Lipper personally

Parent resources for
helping you give your kids the best science education they can get

A place to ask Aurora questions (lots of them!)

Recordings of
everything so your kids can do the program on whatever schedule AND at
whatever pace suits your student and your homeschool!

This is a gorgeous program, and I know all Christian
homeschool moms will appreciate that it is evolution-neutral, so you don’t have
to worry about that. There is even a very helpful Homeschooling Section, complete with FAQs and a handy"conversion chart" for current users of other curriculum, like A Beka, Apologia, Christian Kids Explore and more. This chart helps to align the lessons and experiments from Supercharged Science with the topics covered in each of these existing curricula.

We used this as our stand alone science program four days a week. We were given access to all 20 different units as seen above, and we decided to skip around and have fun exploring each unit. At the heart of the program are all the wonderful
experiments, so let me share some pictures of the fun my favorite fourth grader and I have had so far.

Capturing Infrared Light: (invisible to the naked eye, infrared light can be captured on film)

Balloon Gymnastics: (Showing how hot and cold air move around us):

Glowing Slime: (demonstrating how molecules sometimes need a "link" to stick to one another)

Water Cycle Column (demonstrating the evaporation, absorption, and condensation cycle that happens to help plants grow):

Fun Stuff! I encourage you to check out the FREE lessons from Supercharged Science by clicking here, and if you like what you see and experience, sign up for complete access and watch your young scientist bloom and grow! Click here to order E-Science Program from Supercharged Science today!

Not ready to make the purchase yet? Click the banner below to read what other homeschool families had to say about the program!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

I’ve been a mom for over 23 years now, and I have constantly
searched for wholesome books to read to my children and to have my children
read. So when Salem Ridge Press allowed
our Schoolhouse Crew Review to review several of their titles, I was thrilled to
have been chosen. I was chosen to review
The Magic Runes: A Tale of the Times of Charlemagneby Emma Leslie.

This “living history” book is set in the summer of 782 A.D.,
and focuses on a young family of Saxony, France, during the times of
Charlemagne. Saxons during this period
had great disgust for Charlemagne, who murdered Saxons and plundered their
villages in the name of Christianity.
When this young family (Godrith, his wife, and their two children) are
forced to leave their village and trudge through the forest, the young mother
gets too ill to continue, so Charlemagne'ssoldiers leave them all for dead in the
forest.

Enter young Adalinda and her charcoal-burner father Pepin, who
take in this young Saxon family and care for them and befriend their two young
children. They are followers of the “White Christ” as Jesus was referred to
during that time, and they show this young Saxon family a warm picture of true
Christianity. Godrith and his family are
amazed that their pagan “gods” obey this White Christ, and that their family is cared for despite the fact they should be enemies with one another.

When Godrith’s young son Alaric is kidnapped one day while
playing in the forest (supposedly predicted by the magic runes on the forest
trees), Godrith is forced to take drastic measures to secure his son’s
safety. I won’t reveal too much, but the
beautiful theme of this reader can be summed up in this passage: “There might be—there were—two sides to Christianity, the outward and
visible, as represented by Charlemagne and his conquering troops, and the inner—the
real, as taught by the White Christ, and shining in the lives of His followers,
Pepin and his daughter, who could sacrifice her own comfort and pleasure,
though it cost her a hard struggle and much pain, in order to help those who
were not even her friend, but her enemies." (Godrith in The Magic Runes, p. 80)

What I thought: I will admit, the language in this book is
very different than conventional novels, and I had to switch from having Abbey
read the book, to my reading it to her. As
you can tell from the above excerpt, it is written in a bit lofty and lengthy writing
style, and was originally penned in 1888, so it takes some effort to read and understand, but it is worth it.

As we began, I was worried that Abbey would not be able to follow the story, but she understood it quite well, and she
loved it, begging me to read more than one chapter at a time: “I hope this chapter goes fast! I want to
find out what happened to Alaric.” The delightful
characters drew us both in, and made us care about what happened to them. Isn’t that the sign of a great book?

The setting of the book allowed us to expand on the history
and geography of this time period, and to discuss important issues that still
ring true today, most importantly doing works in Jesus’ name in a damaging way can confuse and
confound the lost. We must judge ourselves and others
by their fruit, as Godrith and his family soon learn.

Please take a moment to explore the Salem Ridge Press website , and enjoy reading the different reviews by my fellow Crew mates; they all reviewed different titles from Salem Ridge Press,
so you can really get a feel for some different offerings there! Click below:

Friday, April 5, 2013

In honor of my upcoming birthday, here are my Random Five Facts Today:1. The older I get, the faster time moves. 2. The older I get, the more I crave simplicity.3. The older I get,the more I need Jesus. 4. The older I get, the more patriotic I become.5. The older I get, the more I love Fridays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Click the button below to discover some more fun and random facts about other bloggers!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

If you have a child even remotely interested in astronomy, stop what you are doing right now and go purchase the awesome curriculum from Home School Astronomy.

We were privileged to receive an entire semester of courses on CD and have loved, loved learning more and more about the amazing universe(s) God has created. This Creation-based program is full of eye-popping graphics, wonderful facts, and great tactics for teaching!

Each PowerPoint presentation is interactive and informative, and just short enough to keep my 4th grader's attention very well. At the beginning, I was reading the text to her, thinking she would get overwhelmed with the terminology and subject matter, but by the third presentation, she was not waiting on me and was reading the entire thing on her own.

At the end of each presentation is an evaluation (test) that can be printed off for your students to take, or you may choose to allow them to do the test orally with you. We chose the latter, and Abbey rarely missed any of the questions. I was seriously amazed at the reading comprehension levels I was witnessing. Answers for each test are provided at the end of each presentation. On the website , you can find sample slides from each presentation, and you have the option to purchase one presentation at a time for $9.95, or to purchase an entire semester (all 13 presentations) for only $79.35, a savings of $50!You also have the option to purchase a CD or have the presentations immediately available via download.

This program is available for K - 4th grades and 5th - High School, andcan easily be adapted for both younger and older children. Cross curricular activities are provided for each presentation, so you can have older students really expand each lesson. Here is an example:

English:1. Select another area of our lives where old laws and rules lag far behind ourtechnology and write a persuasive essay expressing why the old rules areantiquated.2. Write a fictional news article proclaiming the discovery of a new planet. Describehow this new discovery contains all the elements necessary to consider it a newplanet.Public Speaking:1. Assess why you believe many people are upset that Pluto is not considered aplanet. Anticipate their arguments for why Pluto should still be classified a planet.Defend the basic concepts of what makes an object a planet therefore excludingPluto. Home School Astronomy even has an Astronomy Supplies page on their website that will answer almost any question you may have about purchasing a good telescope or binoculars for night sky viewing. As you probably have experienced, buying a cheap telescope is usually a waste of money. Save your money and make the investment in a better telescope. Your eyes and your children will thank you!

**For a limited time only, Home School Astronomy is hosting a telescope giveaway! Click here for details and let them know this blog sent you!

What I think: In case you can't tell, I absolutely love this breath-taking program. Why? Because my daughter, upon finding Orion in the night sky for the first time, squealed like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. And anyone and everyone who happens to stop by or be near her at night, is welcomed with a mini astronomy lesson from Abbey; pointing out all the constellations she can see in our small space of the world. I have learned right along with her. We are both visual learners and this program is made for us. What Abbey thinks: Her words: "It is so awesome! The pictures are the best I have ever seen in my entire life!" Again, I encourage you to visit Home School Astronomy today and explore and learn and purchase it for your classroom!

Disclaimer: I received this program in exchange for my honest and thorough review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was given.